Swimming Lessons

This week my kids started swimming lessons.  We have been traveling to Garden City for them because the pool here in Montpelier isn't open.  It is a long day for all of us because we leave the house at 8:15 in the morning and don't get home until 1pm.  If you ask the kids they will tell you that they don't like swimming lessons but when they are in the water you would never guess that.  It is just that we are gone for so long and a lot of their time is spent waiting not swimming. Their swimming instructor is much harder on them than the teachers they have had in the past.  They don't enjoy that but I sure do.  They are really learning a lot and she is doing a lot of life saving things with them like what to do if they fall in the water or if someone else falls in the water.  They have all improved so much in just 1 week.  It will be fun to see how much more they improve over the next week. 

 Fenton has never had any fear of the water so it was great to get him in swimming lessons so that he could learn how to actually swim and not just think that he could.  He is kind of crazy in his class and they have to keep an eye on him or he will try swimming the length of the pool.

 Anika was scared to death of the water on Monday.  Her teacher made here put her face in the water which she didn't like doing.  But by Thursday she was having contests with Fenton to see who could hold their breath under the water the longest.  Now that she is over her fear of the water hopefully she will learn to really swim this week.

 Ethan started the week knowing how to swim but just enough to survive.  He has been learning how to have better breath control so that he doesn't come up out of the water gasping for air.  He has also been learning better swimming technique so that he isn't just doggy paddling.

Dalton is a pretty good swimmer and wasn't sure if he wanted to take swimming lessons.  He was afraid that they were just going to work on crazy diving and things that he would never use.  She has been working a lot with him on technique and getting faster with his swimming.  He comes away from swimming lessons exhausted but he is definitely improving.  On Thursday she even started showing them the butterfly stroke.